Travelling to USA
My husband and I are thinking about travelling to America and spending Christmas there (not this one but the next). I know it's a long time away but we've never been there before and will do lots of research about where we are going to go. I'd like anyone to help me if they've been there before (especially Boston Pat please given you live there!). The kids obviously want to go to Disneyland, I have a facsination with New York and Vegas. My husband and son are both Cincinnati Bengals fans so a grid iron game will definitely be on the itinerary! Where should we go and why? Any help is much appreciated!

What a coincidence that you bring this up, Superfan!

I actually purchased my tickets just yesterday for Hawaii and we leave next Friday (7th - thanks for not making the finals Dogs!). We’re only going for a week, but plan on doing lots of shopping. Pearl Harbour and getting lots of sun!

I was about 14 when I first went to the USA, we did all the tourist-y type stuff, Disneyworld (there is a whole new park there now, California Adventure, that was being built when I was there so allow two days minimum), Universal Studios in LA, I preferred Universal (try and hang around later for the Universal Walk, heaps to look at and do) to Disneyland too, but that's just my inner geek, really.

Consider staying in Anaheim as opposed to LA, a lot cheaper and probably a whole lot quieter too. And after a late night at Disneyland, hit the local Denny’s and get a sundae.

…the amount of food that is shovelled into the mouths of Americans is truly a sight in itself.

I absolutely loved San Diego, such a chilled area, if I had the option to move to southern California, there’s a good chance that I would. Also Sea World is just amazing! Loved Vegas and absolutely so much to do. I loved the M&M Factory! And San Francisco. We only went overnight so I don’t remember much aside from it being quite chilly and figured out that I get sea-sick… under the Golden Gate Bridge.

Then Hawaii on the way home, I highly recommend that if you get an option to fly home through Honolulu, to do so.

If you do go at Xmas time, keep in mind it’s winter. The California winter is bearable, but will be a heck of a lot colder in NYC!

Good luck with your plans!

I went with my bro in '93, and had a blast.

We also stayed in Anaheim for around a week, went to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studio's etc.

http://www.knotts.com/

Disneyland cost me $28.75 to get in, i wonder if it's the same today!

We also went to a few Baseball games - California Angels v L.A @ Anaheim Stadum, Florida Marlins v San Diago Padres @ Joe Robbie Stadium.

What we did was book EVERYTHING beforehand, the parks, the Baseball games etc, and bundled it all up.

Also stayed in Miami, the beach was awesome, but shopping there was a bit dodgy, we found ourselves in this run down looking shopping centre with ONLY black people, there were police cars roaming around, we got out of there pretty fast.

Hawaii was BRILLIANT, just loved it, the weather was perfect, the people were so friendly and helpful, the beach was sensational, we stayed in Honolulu, more of a chill-out than anything else.

Pete aka Flamethrower aka Earl will fill you in alot more than what i can, he's been over there 7 or 8 times now.

Just make sure your always prepared to pay an extra 10% tax on everything you buy over there, as they charge you up front.

Can't help you with this Superfan as I have never been to the US.......though that may change soon due to the fact I have enough Freq Flyers to fly return to either San Fran or LA!!
You should speak to your brothers, and BTW check out www.lonelyplanet.com and have a look at the thorntree.

watch out for the massachusetts drivers..... :cool: or massholes as they're called around here....

be prepared for ridiculous amounts of TV channels, when i went with my sister in 98, all we wanted to do was watch TV the whole time, i suppose it was different though because we had come from a country with only one channel to one with over 100, endless fights over nickelodeon and MTV. this is probably an absolutely useless comment since everyone has foxtel now hehe, im so helpful

be prepared for ridiculous amounts of TV channels

true but also ridiculous amount of adverts too. one every 4 or 6 minutes on the popular channels. i kid you not! but i don't think superfan will be watching that much tele anyway....

am heading down to louisville kentucky in october to help out in the nationals. (the united states afl playoffs) never been there so i'll let you know.

new england is a nice place to visit in the autumn. lots of dead leaves. winter can be bone chillingly cold although the last few winters havn't been all that bad. (global warming methinks) but if you go up to vermont or maine or new hampshire in winter, it's dammed cold. these states are called northern new england. massachusetts, rhode island and conneticut are southern new england.

might want to check out rhode island if you get a chance as there are some pretty big lavish mansions there. they do tours even in winter.

will add more when i think of it...

How are your plans coming along SuperFan?

I lived in California for about 6 years so if you're heading West let me know and I will give you more details.

I would recommend Yosemite and the San Francisco Bay area in general (L.A. sucks).

Vegas is really good but I can generally only stand about 3 days there before I start getting bored.

I did the US tourist thing in mid '92 - 36 states in 33 days, Left Coast to East Coast and back, all by road - and would do it again in a heart beat.

As we had to be in certain places at certain times, we spent about 8 months planning our itinerary. All our accommodation was pre-paid, and we received vouchers which we handed in at every hotel we stayed at. We even paid for the car hire up front.

The points of interest that were our priority were Vegas, Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Knoxville (Iowa, for the Sprintcar Nationals) and DisneyWorld in Orlando. This also included Universal Studios, MGM Studios and the EPCOT Centre. For this, we spent 6 nights in Tampa. We actually arrived in Tampa the night Hurricane Andrew hit Miami.

As we were there towards the end of the US summer and autumn, I never got to see an NFL game, but we left the day after Week One's MNF (Dallas @ Washington), and as the 'Skins won, I left the US a happy chappy.

Shopping was, to me, cheap as, so we stocked up on stuff that wasn't available in Aus.

Superfan, if you do any of the theme parks, I'd suggest you plan for a long day. We got there before the gates opened, and stayed until the parks closed, as we had planned on spending the whole day there anyway. This gave us plenty of time to see and do everything on offer.

I may be going there next year!! - will know for sure in next few days!

So NoName are you going?

Im going to LA, so any info that anyone has im all ears.

New visa waivers to enter USA, make sure it's all checked out!